Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

[jacksonrr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LpB1E4EE7k&feature=email&email=comment_reply_received


I'm not trying to get anyone down or spam, but I feel this needs to be spread. Cort makes more guitars for other companies than their own brand so don't think that just because your axe is a Fender, a G&L Tribute, an ESP, an Ibanez or many others that you haven't supported this. I know I have unknowingly slipped cash into this ugly system.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

I'm not trying to be an asshole here, and I realize that I'm not the most knowledgeable on the subject of international trading - but if we boycott Cort made products, won't these workers be out of jobs? I mean, that's the whole reason they stay at the factories in the first place - it's the only way they can make money. What happens when you take that income away from them?

 

[Vengeance]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

I tried watching the whole thing but became frustrated after I started looking into more. When the girl complained about getting *****ed at for scratching guitars,duh. Complaining about having to be told not to run around the guitars. Then the truth was a bit stretched as well saying they are getting paid 1,000,000 won a month and producing 3,000,000 won guitars for Cort ,roughly $1000 a month(what's minimum wage here?) and selling $3000 guitars. I'd like to see a $3000 Cort if it is true. Then she goes on to say that she fell and dropped a $3000 guitar and all they cared about was if the guitar was OK. Some minimum wage worker running around the Gibson plant dropping and scratching up guitars? I would assume there would be some serious ass chewing going on and most likely get your ass fired. Then she has the nerve to complain she was let go. WTF?

Work sucks and I've had my fair of the crappiest jobs ever. I even had a job that appeared on "Dirty Jobs" on TV. It sucked and I moved on to find a better job,I do understand this is South Korea and maybe the jobs are hard to come by because all the jobs over here are so easy to come by and pay so much more. Sorry sarcasm never goes over well when typed.

If you ever worked any kind of minimum wage production job making high dollar stuff then yah most likely they care more about the item being made then the employee,I know this myself first hand.

Sorry it was late and I've been smoking,guess my whole point was...work sucks if you are blue collar worker no matter where you live. Got to work very hard for little pay with no respect. Nothing new there.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

The root cause of SE Asian musical instrument manufacturers pressurising their workforces to increase productivity without incurring increased outgoings is the unwillingness of people like you and I to pay more than "mid-price" sums of money for the finished products.

The same goes for other products. Cars, clothing, sports shoes, whatever.

Dodgy workplace management practices are a worldwide phenomenon. Korea is catching up with the West in more ways than one.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

Sometimes we look at inexpensive guitars that seem to be a ridiculous bargain for the money; they look and play so much better than the price would imply. We wonder what corners might have been cut to achieve it. Here's one idea.

And I'm pretty positive I've owned at least five Cort-built guitars over the years, even though the name hasn't appeared on a single headstock.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

+1, I don't think any of us was under any impressions that the people that built them were being getting paid fairly for their work, however few of us imagined the extent of exploitation that these people were subjected to.

It is a sad, sad state of affairs if I might say so.

I know that in the past I've owned one guitar that at one point had the Cort logo (and was later removed so that it could have been presented as sth else, worked too, I bought it after all , only guitar I've sold thus far) but, unless Michael Kelly uses the Cor-Tek plant, I am fairly sure that I have no other ones (the rest being a Mexican Strat, three Americans and a Korean with a clearly different manufacturer on the headstock)...

 

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

I've had tons of Cort guitars. I like em'. Plus if they keep the Chinese busy building guitars, that's less time they have to invade us.

 

[jacksonrr]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

Hmmm. Mixed reactions. These people obviously are not happy with their treatment and that's coming from an area that already sucks for that. As far as the 3,000,000 won guitar is concerned, Cort does indeed have a high class line called Parkwood, maybe that's what she was referring to.

A dude set himself on fire in protest and Sej Tankian and Tom Morello showed up to another protest. I'm fairly sure it isn't some sort of isolated whining incident. It's fairly serious. I wonder where Suhr is having their Rasmus series guitars built?

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

I have 2 Cort's and they're great value guitars. It's not great to see the workers being screwed over by management, but that's capitalism for ya.

However, it does cross my mind that some of this may have been stirred up by competitors. Cort manufactures guitars for a lot of better known brands (Fender, Ibanez, Ltd, Schecter etc..) and only just "seriously" re-launched their own brand of guitars (funnily enough, a move that coincided with the start of their union/labour unrest issues) These guitars offer better features/quality at a (far) lower price. That might have ruffled some feathers. The guitar world has been dominated by a hanndful of well known "brands" for decades now...and I think it's pretty likely that steps of this sort might be taken to ensure things stay that way.

I'm sure workers in others plants (at least in Asia) get more of the same treatment & while it's exploitative for sure they're still probably getting a better deal than unskilled labour working in other area's of manufacture, construction etc.

Even as far as guitar manufacture goes, I don't really see Chinese or indonesian makers showering their workforce with great facilities & perks either. For that matter, I don't know how much of the sale of $3000+ Gibson's trickles down to the workforce for it's betterment & wellfare, but I'm guessing not much.

Not saying it's wonderful that stuff like this happens but what I am saying is it's not very unusual.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

They were "stirred" not because they demanded better pay or better working conditions (sth that would be only logical) but because they were fired under their noses, first having them unknowingly train their replacements (Indonesians that would be paid even less).

And I hardly believe a man would actually set himself on fire just because he was stirred by a competitor.


Y'know it's funny. There was a time where Capitalism meant that many would offer the same product and people would vote whose is the best with their wallets (their capital).
Now this word has ended up meaning an excuse for companies to do whatever they freakin' want in the name of the all-mighty-(input-your-local-currency-here)...

 

[Bones]

Re: Cort/Cor-tek guitars and their rebranded products

if they keep the Chinese busy building guitars, that's less time they have to invade us.

Undeniable logic.